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Questions & Answers about Poslije poraza nitko nije govorio.
Why does poraz change to poraza in this sentence?
The preposition poslije (after) always requires the noun following it to be in the genitive case. Poraz (defeat) is a masculine noun, so it takes the standard masculine genitive ending -a.
Why does the sentence use the negative helper verb nije instead of the positive je?
Croatian requires double negatives. Whenever you use a negative word like nitko (nobody), ništa (nothing), or nikad (never), the verb must also be negative. The sentence literally translates to 'nobody didn't speak'.
Since we don't know who was in the group, why does the verb govorio have a masculine singular ending?
Grammatically, the pronoun nitko is always treated as masculine singular. Whenever nitko is the subject of a past tense sentence, the verb must take the masculine -o ending, even if the group of people you are talking about was entirely female.
Why use the imperfective verb govorio (was speaking / spoke) instead of a perfective verb like rekao (said)?
Using the imperfective govorio emphasizes the ongoing state of silence. It paints a picture that during the period after the defeat, no talking was happening at all. If you used rekao, it would focus on a single completed action, sounding more like nobody stated a specific point.